More demand than ever for air ambulance as Magpas sees record year

Published:15:12Updated:15:14Friday 13 January 2017

Magpas Air Ambulance saw its busiest year to date in 2016, with almost 1,500 callouts for the charity’s advanced care, across 12 different counties.

The ever increasing demand for the service led to its expert medical team being called out to emergencies on average of 4 times a day. After becoming a 24/7 service in October 2015, the charity now sees almost 50% of call-outs taking place overnight.

December was also a record month for the charity, with the medical team treating 18 patients during the four days between Christmas Eve and 27th December.

Natalie Church, the Head of Operations at Magpas Air Ambulance, said “There is an unprecedented level of demand for our service and all the medics and staff continue to work extremely hard to provide a consistent and quality level of care.

“There are simply more people who need the enhanced care the Magpas Air Ambulance medical team delivers on a daily basis. The ageing population in the East of England is increasing the need for our service and our doctors and paramedics noticed a particular rise in the number of cardiac arrests they treated last year. We fully expect this demand to continue to rise in 2017 and need to raise £4.8 million as a charity to fund the service this year.”

As Magpas Air Ambulance is a charity, the organisation relies on generous donations and help from the public to provide its vital lifesaving care.